Bertha (Garside) Bradford (1885 - 1958)

Born 23 Mar 1885 in Golcar, W Yorks, UK

Ancestors

Died 1958 at about age 72 in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset

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Biography

Bertha was born in 1885 with the name Garside and is mentioned in the 1891 census living with her parents at Crimble, Golcar, W Yorks.

In the 1901 census she was at 12 Union Street, Slaithwaite as a woollen mender at age 15 with her parents, still using Garside name.

In the 1911 census she was still at home with the same address and job, but now called Gartside in line with the rest of the family. Later that year she married William Frank Bradford, from Kirtling, Newmarket, Cambridgeshire and 6 years younger than herself. (He had been living locally with his aunt and uncle as a warper in a woollen mill [1911 census]). By the time of the 1921 census the couple lived in Huddersfield with Bertha's widowed mother Hannah.

According to family reports William had poor health with fits in the 1920s and was described as 'incapacitated' in the 1939 Register. Although no newspaper or other records can be found, he is reputed to have refused any sort of service in WW1 and was imprisoned at Dartmoor jail, perhaps the cause of later illness?

They had no children and were living in Weston-Super-Mare by 1930. Their address was 20 Bridge Street which they "had built 11 years before" a letter dated 9th November 1946. They ran a grocery/newsagent's shop as in the attached photo and William also did electrical work. They died within a very short time of each other in April 1958, still in Weston-S-M and at the Bridge Street address.

Sources

• Birth record, Huddersfield, July-September 1885, Volume 9a, Page 353 or 358 as there were two such locally.
• William birth record October-December 1891, Newmarket, Cambridgeshire
• Censuses 1891, 1901 and 1911 for Bertha; 1911 for William Frank Bradford.
• 1939 Register (for exact date of birth)
• Marriage record, Huddersfield, October-December 1911, Volume 9a, Page 741.
• Letter from Bertha to Elizabeth and Ronald Haigh 1st May 1927 and .....
• .... Letter to Leslie Haigh dated 9th Nov. 1946 both in this author's files.
• Death records, Weston-Super-Mare, April-June 1958, Volume 7c, Page 271 for Bertha and then Page 273 for William.
• England and Wales Probate Death Index, 1958, including final address.